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<title>Italy's Muse by BeStillMySlashyHeart</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212622">Italy's Muse</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart'>BeStillMySlashyHeart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:28:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>841</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212622</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nile takes a break from the team and travels around Italy, soaking up the history and, more importantly, the art. When she rejoins the others, she has one very important question: why is Nicky's face all over every museum?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2151</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Italy's Muse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, Nicky. Awkward question.”</p><p>Nicky, Joe, and Andy all turned to face Nile. They’d been eating quietly, enjoying each other’s presence now that they were back together. Nile and Andy had joined up a few days previously but Nicky and Joe had only just returned from a trip to Malta.</p><p>“Yes?” Nicky invited her to continue.</p><p>Nile cleared her throat. “I went to Italy, while you two were on your trip.”</p><p>“…okay?” Nicky wasn’t sure where she was going with this. </p><p>“Uh, spent some time in museums,” she sort of bobbed her head like she was thinking real hard. Across from him, Andy started to smile. It stretched across her lips slowly until her grin threatened to split her face. She didn’t even try to hide it. Next to him, Joe straightened up, suddenly attentive now that he suspected where Nile was going with this. Nicky just sighed, already resigned to his fate.</p><p>“Italy has many beautiful museums,” he agreed.</p><p>“Yeah! Yeah.” She glanced at the three of them. “So. Um. A lot of it, especially the Renaissance stuff, I mean, it kinda looks like you?”</p><p>Andy started laughing. Nicky ignored her. “Does it?” Joe hopped out of his chair and disappeared into another room. </p><p>“Yeah?” She suddenly looked unsure. “I’m not trying to make, like, a generalization or anything, just a lot of the paintings reminded me of you. Like, a lot.”</p><p>“You haven’t asked your questions yet.”</p><p>Nile blinked. “Oh. Why? Why is your face on all of those paintings?”</p><p>“That, my dear Nile,” Joe crowed as he came back into the room, “would be because the Renaissance artists were talented men, yes, but mostly they were geniuses and they knew how to pick a muse.” He held up a small bronze statue, an original version of Michelangelo’s David. “Michelangelo was an asshole who didn’t know how to keep his hands to himself but he had excellent taste in models.” He placed the statue down in front of Nicky before kissing him on the cheek. </p><p>“I still don’t understand why you have that,” Nicky mused. “You have the real thing.” He smiled into Joe’s next kiss.</p><p>“This is you?!” Nile was out of her chair, the statue in her hands. “This is the <em>David</em>.”</p><p>“He should have called it the Nicolo,” Andy laughed. “Didn’t he ask you to model nude for it?”</p><p>Nicky sighed. “Yes. He was very pushy about it, too.” </p><p>“But you always said no,” Joe grinned.</p><p>“Of course I said no.” Nicky smirked. “He was an asshole.” </p><p>“Leonardo wasn’t,” Andy helpfully added.</p><p>Nile whirled on him. “Leonardo <em>da Vinci</em>?” So apparently Nile was a bit of an art history nerd. Good to know. “You knew-”</p><p>Nicky shrugged. “He was nice. Loved himself too much, though.” He rolled his eyes. “Nobody was ever smart enough for him.”</p><p>“Raphael, though,” Joe remarked, his eyes closed in memory.</p><p>Nile pointed at him. “The Raphael Rooms in the Vatican! I saw you there!”</p><p>“You did,” Nicky admitted. “But Joe liked him a lot more than I did.”</p><p>“There was a lot to like,” Joe agreed. Nicky raised his eyebrows at him but Joe only smiled. A moment later, his hand was on Nicky’s thigh rubbing warm circles of reassurance that Nicky really didn’t need but appreciated nonetheless.</p><p>“Were there <em>any</em> Renaissance artists you didn’t know?” Nile sat down heavily, still in a mild state of shock. </p><p>Nicky shrugged. “It was a long time ago. It’s possible? I don’t know who the world remembers.” A memory hit him. “Ah! There was one! I forget his name but he didn’t like me.” Andy groaned and Nicky grinned. “He preferred Andy. Confessed to being hopelessly in love with her.”</p><p>“He was a writer, I think,” Joe recalled. “Wrote you love letters all of the time.”</p><p>“She left Florence just to get away from him,” Nicky told Nile.</p><p>“So you got all the art and she got pestered by a writer? Some guys have all the luck.”</p><p>The others laughed. </p><p>Sensing the conversation had reached an end, Nicky scooped up the statue and left the room to return it to Joe’s things. Truthfully, if he thought Joe wouldn’t notice, he’d prefer to just be rid of it.</p><p>“Don’t you dare,” Joe warned from behind him, clearly sensing his thoughts.</p><p>Nicky rolled his eyes and tucked the statue away. “I don’t even know why you have it with you.”</p><p>“I went to a lot of trouble for that!” He laughed. “Michelangelo was a terrible sculptor, really. The resemblance is minimal.”</p><p>“So why keep it?”</p><p>“Because I know what he intended,” Joe admitted. “And it is my prize for letting him stare at you for months on end without killing him.” He wrapped his arms around Nicky’s waist.</p><p>“You would kill everyone who stares at me?”</p><p>Joe kissed him. “You did not like it,” he reminds Nicky. “And yes, I would kill everyone who stares at you without your blessing, everyone who makes you uncomfortable.”</p><p>“Hmm,” Nicky cupped the back of his head. “My hero.”</p><p>“Always.”</p>
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